82 THE GRAPE. 



better substitute, and a mucb more effeci.ual plan, is to 

 cover tbe border with glazed sashes, or wooden shutters, 

 and to conduct an extra pipe from the hot-water apparatus, 

 or a length of flue, which may be conveyed around the 

 outside, and sunk in a cavity, so that the top may be open, 

 and even with the surface. During the time when forcing 

 is going on, the heat may in this way be made to circulate 

 over the surface, and forms a stratum of warm air within 

 the chamber made by the covering, which need not to be 

 elevated more than six inches above thd upper level of 

 the border, so as to keep the collected heat more im- 

 mediately near the roots, and by limiting the space to be 

 heated, prevent waste. Wooden shutters are best, so far 

 as retaining the heat is concerned, there is likewise no dan- 

 ger of breakage, but glass sashes have the advantage of 

 collecting a considerable degree of caloric during sunshine, 

 and will somewhat counterbalance the loss occasioned by 

 its conducting properties. No doubt some persons, who 

 may be disposed to have early grapes, may think such 

 appurtenances very troublesome and expensive, to which 

 we would answer, if a thing is worth doing at all, do it 

 well, for all horticultural products are cheapest when well 

 attended to, and such a convenience once obtained will 

 last many years, as it may be removed in the summer sea- 

 son, and packed away, and the channel in which the out- 

 side heating apparatus is placed, may at the same time be 

 covered over, to prevent any unsightly 'appearance, further 

 than the row of boards or flags, as the top will be level 

 with the surrounding surface. That good grapes have 

 been and still will continue to be forced early without such 

 an appendage is reasonably admitted, but is it not more 

 in accordance with nature, to supply the roots with warmth 

 at the same time as the branches, and is there not a greater 

 probability that success will be more certain, and the yield 



